The mystic, being wise, plucked one of the curly hairs from his body and gave it to the man saying “Give this to the genie, and tell him to straighten this between his fingers it and then to stand it on its end in his palm”.
The man turned to the genie and handing him the curly hair gave him the same instructions. The genie took the hair and straightened it between his fingers and then tried to stand it on its end in his palm. The hair however, fell over and curled up again. And so the genie tried again and again and again to straighten the hair between his fingers and then stand it on its end in his palm. And so he sat there with the hair doing this without end until the man would come to ask him to do something else which he would accomplish instantaneously only to be given the hair straightening task again upon completion.
This story is a metaphor for the mind and the mantra. The genie is the mind which if given nothing to do will tend to consume its owner with doubts, worries, anxiety, and negative thoughts. The curly hair to be straightened and stood on end is the mantra, chant, or affirmation which will keep the mind busy until there is something more useful that you would like it to work on like a solution to world hunger or maybe helping your sixth grader with her math homework.